WHAT IS GLOBALISATION?

Globalisation is unavoidable” (World Bank, 1995:54)

Globalisation is a myth suitable for a world without illusions, but it is also one that robs us of hope” (Hirst and Thompson, 1996:6)

There are many theories that try to define and explain globalisation. What is commonly accepted by most of them is the fact that globalisation is a multidimensional process.   The major aspects of globalisation are economical, political and cultural. It can be claimed that globalisation in our days has created a strong debate field where supporters and opponents of globalisation, act in very dynamic ways. The antiglobalisation movement has become a global social movement that has many supporters in a big number of countries who think of globalisation as a big threat to their world. On the other hand, support of globalisation is also widespread in many countries, and what strengthens this support is the belief that globalisation is the progress and the future.

For some, globalisation is not a new phenomenon. This view has to do mainly with the economical aspect of globalisation. According to this view, globalisation is described as the process which involves growing economic “interdependence” of countries worldwide. But the economic interdependence is not a new phenomenon (Singh, 2000:3). By the second half of the 19th century Adam Smith’s theories and the “Laissez Faire, Laissez Passer” age were flouring. Especially from 1870 to 1913 there were almost no restrictions on the movement of goods, capital and labour across national boundaries and the government intervention in economic activity was minimal (Singh, 2000:5). Therefore, perhaps it is not proper to talk of a new phenomenon but instead for a continuously transforming process.

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In terms of economics and finance, globalisation is considered to be above all an economic phenomenon which is spreading widespread (Mebrahtu, 2000:22). Globalisation is described here as the increasing transnationalisation of the world economy where government restrictions on the movement of goods and capital have been removed towards the creation of a borderless world. At this point, the importance of the global markets is far bigger than the nation-states (Wilding & George, 2002:3).

Globalisation could not have the form that it has today without the rapid technology development. One example of technology innovation is the use of the World ...

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